STORAGE

Silicon Graphics today announced the Open Storage initiative. This new program enables hardware storage vendors qualified by SGI to run SGI InfiniteStorage software, a suite of storage solutions designed specifically for the most demanding data environments. Open storage provides IS managers flexibility and investment protection for managing data over multi-vendor environments. By opening its storage offering, SGI enables organizations committed to storage hardware from leading providers to benefit from the advanced data management capabilities delivered by InfiniteStorage solutions. The SGI InfiniteStorage open environment enables users to scale their data infinitely, adding capacity, performance, connectivity or changing the storage architecture without losing the investment in the existing infrastructure. Robust and combinable solutions for intelligent consolidation, data lifecycle management and data protection, InfiniteStorage allows data to be transparently shared everywhere without replication, grow with business usage no matter how fast or how large, and manage the changing value of data over time without limiting user access. "Today's tools for accessing and managing amount of data generated can break under the strain of the shear volume. IT managers need a storage solution that doesn't limit them -- rather enables them with the power and flexibility to solve the most data-intensive challenges," said Gabriel Broner, senior vice president and general manager, Storage and Software Group, SGI. "This new openness from SGI means that companies can more effectively configure storage to manage costs, minimize risks and optimize performance -- ultimately to incorporate their storage infrastructure." New Open Products SGI InfiniteStorage line includes today NAS, SAN and DLM packaged solutions, which incorporate SGI's storage software and hardware. To date SGI has qualified platforms from both EMC and Hitachi Data Systems. SGI InfiniteStorage NAS and SAN servers manage the most demanding environments in the world. As part of today's announcement, SGI is also introducing new InfiniteStorage NAS Gateway and SAN Gateway a series of 'gateway' products that attach to either SGI or non-SGI storage hardware. The new Gateway products, like the existing InfiniteStorage SAN and NAS solutions, can be augmented with options for data lifecycle management and data protection including SGI's world record performance backup and restore capabilities. The new Gateway models start at $21,000 and are available directly from SGI or through SGI Solution Providers worldwide.